Prolactin cell (also known as epsilon acidophil, lactotrope, lactotropic cell, lactotroph, mammatroph, mammotroph) is a cell in the anterior pituitary which produces prolactin in response to hormonal signals including dopamine, estrogen, progesterone and Thyrotropin-releasing hormone. Dopamine has an inhibitory effect on PRL (prolactin) secretion. Prolactin cell are acidophilic by H&E stains and comprise about 20% of all cells in the anterior pituitary gland.
If these cells undergo neoplastic transformation, they will give rise to a prolactinoma, a prolactin-secreting pituitary adenoma.
Famous quotes containing the word cell:
“She that but little patience knew,
From childhood on, had now so much
A grey gull lost its fear and flew
Down to her cell and there alit,
And there endured her fingers’ touch
And from her fingers ate its bit.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)